Auxiliary drive for earth moving machine



May 29, 1956 w. BARFIELD AUXILIARY DRIVE FOR EARTH MOVING MACHINE 2 eets-Sheet 1 sept l Wm M MZ 5%? May 29, 1956 w. BARFIELD 2,747,677

AUXILIARY DRIVE FOR EARTH MOVING MACHINE Filed Sept. 1, 1953 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIGS FJG I FIG5 IN V EN TOR.

BY WALTER BAEFIELD OZM%% ATTV.

United States Patent AUXILIARY DRIVE FOR EARTH MOVING MACHINE Walter Barfield, Upper Darby, Pa.

Application September 1, 1953, Serial No. 377,883

1 Claim. (Cl. 180-54) This invention relates to the type of earth moving machine which is disclosed in such prior patents as Wold No. 2,253,745; McLean No. 2,280,439; and Lichtenberg No. 2,395,334.

One object of the invention is to produce an improved machine of the type set forth.

An earth moving machine includes a scooping or scraping device, or a device which can be used as either a scoop or as a scraper, a wheeled chassis on which the scooping or scraping device is mounted, and a prime mover for moving the chassis and for operating the scooping or scraping device.

Experience has shown that if the prime mover used is strong enough to force the scoop or scraper into a compacted pile of earth, and/or roots and rocks, such prime mover will be too strong, and hence too heavy and too wasteful, when it is used merely for pulling the chassis regardless of whether the scoop is empty or is loaded with earth. If a prime mover only strong enough to pull the chassis around is used, it will not be strong enough to push the scoop or scraper into a pile of dirt.

To overcome this difficulty, it has been proposed to provide one end of the chassis with a hook and to use auxiliary, fully powered vehicle to push against said block to help push the chassis when the scoop or scraper is rammed into a pile of compacted earth. Since this added power is only needed from time to time, it would be wasteful to have a truck or similar vehicle standing by all the time. In the absence of such vehicle, it may be that the need for added power will arise and operations will have to stop while auxiliary vehicle is brought to the scene. Obviously, this is not practicable either.

To equip the chassis with two engines, both connected to the driving wheels is also not practicable because of the dead weight that has to be pushed and pulled and because the high gearing ratios of such machines produce a very large friction load.

It is therefore a further object of this invention to produce an improved earth moving machine which will have the necessary power and which will be free of the foregoing objections.

The full nature of the invention will be understood from the following specification and the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic top plan view of an earth moving machine embodying my invention.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view on line 22 on Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view on line 3-3 on Fig. 2 showing the position of the parts when the auxiliary engine is in use.

Fig. 4 is similar to Fig. 3 but showing the position of the parts when the auxiliary engine is not in use.

Fig. 5 is a side elevational view of Fig. 4.

In Figs. 1 and 2 there is shown a conventional earth moving machine which includes a chassis having a pair of front wheels 12 and a pair of rear-wheels 14. The chassis is provided with a front sleeve 1,6 which is adapted detachably to engage a pin 18 or the like which is carried by the rear end of an engine 20 which serves to move the chassis forward or backward. The chassis also carries a scoop or a scraper generally designated by the numeral 22, and means to rotate either or both parts of the scoop around a horizontal axis and to raise or lower the same. This is accomplished by power take off means from engine 20 and is operated by means of suitable controls. Since the structure and operation of the scoop, or scraper, as the case may be, is conventional and forms no part of the invention, it is not shown nor described in detail. It is enough to point out that the machine can be used for levelling or spreading earth or for-scooping and carrying a load of earth from one place to another.

As stated, engine 20 has ample power for most uses but, when the bottom edge of the scoop or scraper is to be pushed through compacted earth, or when some obstruction is encountered, engine 20 may not suflice and, when this happens, it is now the practice to use another vehicle, such as a truck or the like to push against the rear or tail board 24 of the chassis, in the direction of arrow 26.

To overcome the disadvantages inherent in this practice, I permanently mount an auxiliary engine 28 on the rear portion of the chassis the engine being pivotally mounted as at 30. The engine 28 drives a shaft 32 on the ends of which are drive rolls 34 adapted to engage the rear wheels 14 of the chassis 10. The drive rolls 34 may merely frictionally engage rear wheels 14 or they may be provided with gears which will engage gears carried by the axles of rear wheels 14, as desired. Thus, according to my invention, auxiliary engine 28, which need not be a large one, is always available and is operated only when needed.

However, engines of this type include complex gear reduction trains which present a large component of fn'ction were they to be turned when the engine itself is not in operation. To avoid this extra load, engine 28 is pivotally mounted so that drive rolls 34 may engage rear wheels 14 only when needed (Figs. 2 and 3) and so that these drive rolls may be out of contact with rear wheels 14 when not needed (Figs. 4 and 5).

To move auxiliary engine 28 from the position of Figs. 2 and 3 to the position of Figs. 4 and 5, I provided a pair of hydraulic jacks 36 which are operated, in any well known manner, by engine 28. Thus, when it is necessary to use additional power, auxiliary engine 28 is put into operation and the drive rolls are lowered into engagement with rear wheels 12. When additional power is no longer needed, engine 28 is first used to raise drive rolls 34 to the position of Figs. 4 and 5 and then the engine itself is turned 013?.

It will be noted that the engine itself is moved about pivot 30 which means that shaft 32 is direct coupled thus minimizing power transfer losses. Also, thus mounting the auxiliary engine 28 is far superior to coupling it to the rear wheels 14 because in that event, even though engine 28 is turned off, and even if its crank shaft is disengaged from its rear transmission, the gearing and the gear reduction train will present a considerable frictional resistance to be overcome by front engine 20. On the other hand, by my arrangement, only the dead weight of engine 28 has to be pulled by engine 20 when the engine 28 is not in use. The permanent presence of auxiliary engine 28 is also useful in the event that engine 20 is not available or is disabled in which case engine 28 can pull or push the chassis 10 under a small work load, or without any load.

What I claim is:

An earth moving machine including a chassis, front and rear wheels for supporting said chassis, a main engine unit supported on said front wheels for driving said wheels, said unit being connected to one end of said chassis, an auxiliary engine, drive rolls carried and driven by said engine adapted to engage said rear wheels, means pivotally mounting said auxiliary engine on said chassis for movement to a first position in which said drive rolls are out of engagement with said rear wheels and to a second position in which said drive rolls engage said rear wheels, and power means driven by and operatively connected to said auxiliary engine for moving it to either of its first or second positions.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 269,496 Yoch Dec. 19, 1882 567,445 Barrows Sept. 8, 1896 2,054,644 Wulfert Sept. 15, 1936 2,406,944 Choate et al. Sept. 3, 1946 2,422,813 Walch June 24, 1947 

